Clothes washing machine



Feb. 25, 1936. N. H. WATTS CLOTHES WASHING MACHINE Filed Dec. 1 1930Inventor: NobLe H. Watts, W W.

His Attorney.

Patented Feb. 25, 1936 PATENT OFFICE CLOTHES WASHING MACHINE Noble H.Watts, Bridgeport, Conn., assignor to General Electric Company, acorporation of New York Application December 1, 1930, Serial No.

9 Claims.

The present invention relates to clothes washing machines of the typehaving an oscillating agitator, which are intended more especially for fThe object of an improved agitator.

For azconsideration of what I believe to be novel and my invention,attention is directed to the accompanying description and the claimsappended thereto In the attached drawing, which is illustrative of myinvention, Fig. 1 is a view in elevation of rise vertically from thedisk and terminate a hub I I, the upper end of which is smooth and wellproximately 20 with the axis has been found to be satisfactory. As eachrib approaches the disk, and beginning about half way down, it divergesmuch more rapidly from said axis than does the upper part and terminatesin a well rounded end III which projects beyond the peripheral surfaceof the disk. At the upper or hub end where the blades merge therewith,they are made slightly thicker as indicated at l2 and taper as theydescend so as to avoid corners, and therefore pockets, into which thefabrics would not move. The wall l3 of the body between each pair ofblades is gradually curved from the hub so as] to avoid the formation ofpockets and to afford a smooth easy path for the fabrics as they movedownward due to the pulling action of the agitator. Starting at the top,the wall extending between each pair of blades presents an inwardlycurved surface, the radii of which gradually increase toward the bottomas best illustrated by the dotted lines [4 and I5 in the plan view Fig.2 and the sectional views Figs. 6 and 5. The dotted lines correspond inposition to the sections 55 and 66. At the bottom the wall merges by aneasy curve l6 into the disk which is practically flat on its uppersurface. Fig. 4 being an axial section, the curvature between the sidesof the blades above the curve IS the foregoing it Will be seen that thesurface of the body between each pair of blades is curved in two ways,one from blade to blade and the other downwardly to the disk.

As an illustration, but not as a limitation, of my invention, the radiusof the curved wall near the disk and indicated by the dotted line H maybe of the order of 10% inches and the radius of the curved wall at thetop may be of the order of 4% is not shown. From inches. Due to thisarrangement it will be observed that the curvature gradually becomesfiatter from the top towards the bottom. As will be seen from thevarious figures the sides of the curved wall between blades are tangentor subthe sides of the blades with the result that the surface presentedis smooth and of easy curvature so that the fabrics will move readilyover them from the top to the bottom, and all pockets or dead spacesbetween blades are avoided.

The impeller is hollow as best shown in Fig. f1 so as to reduce theweight thereof and thus reduce fabrics one on the other.

enlarging area from the agitator the inertia of the moving parts as thedirection of oscillatory movement is reversed by the actuatingmechanism. The upper end of the impeller is provided with splines orkeys l1 which cooperate with similar devices on the actuating shaft iii.A steady bearing is also provided which comprises a bronze bushing itwhich makes a forced fit with the body and has a Babbitt lining 26.

By reason of the above described curved surfaces between theblades,bending or flexing of the fabric is obtained and also rubbing of the Themaximum washing zone is at or near the bottom of the impeller andbetween this and the top various degrees of washing are effected. Byreason of the described curved surfaces between blades the rubbingaction is made such that it will not injure fine fabrics. 1 Experiencewith the impeller demonstrates that the fabrics contained in the body ofwater in the tub near the top or water level move downward over the saidcurved surfaces to the bottom and are discharged radially toward theside of the tub and then move upwardly to the water level and theninwardly, after which the cycle is repeated. This movement of the fabricis due to the current of water caused by the progressive difference indiameter or size of the parts of the impeller from the top to thebottom. Experience has further demonstrated that due to the presence ofsaid curved surfaces, to the shape and arrangement of the blades, and toan oscillation of the impeller of approximately 200, tangling of thefabric, which is so objectionable in other washing machines of theagitator type, is practically nil. The lower end portions of the bladeswhich project beyond the bottom disk are imporant because they cause thefabrics to be swished ough the water as well as acting as means todischarge them radially.

Because of the oscillating movements of the agitator the movements ofthe fabrics in the suds water are complex but in general it may bestated that in addition to oscillating movements there is a-decidedmovement of the fabrics from the inner wall of the tub at all points atapproximately the water level toward the center, thence downward alongthe incurved walls of the agitator, then an outward unimpeded radialmovement along the bottom of the tub to the inner wall, and thenceupwardly, also unimpeded, to the top, or water level, when the cycle isrepeated. The presence of the blade tips and the constantly preventstangling or twisting of the fabrics. The improved washing action is dueamong other things to the fact that the upper end of the impellerterminates at or slightly above the level of the water and hence theimpeller exerts a downward pull on the fabrics from the water level tothe bottom, this being in contra-distinction to a low impeller whichwhen in service is completely covered by the fabrics. This'results in acircular rolling movement of the fabrics in passing from one zone toanother, and a free continuous return-movement. As the fabrics movedownwardly they rub on each other as well as on the surfaces of theimpeller and are flexed or bent in their passage from the top to thebottom which action assists in the washing operation.

Viewed from another aspect, it will be seen that the improved agitatorcomprises three triangular shaped concave side walls I3 which merge intoeach other at their edges to form the radial blades l0 and which mergeinto the bottom disk with an easy curve l6. Thus, each side wall has adouble concave curvature, i. e., a concave curvature in a horizontalplane and a concave curvature in a vertical plane. This arrangementprovides smooth continuous concave surfaces for effecting movement ofthe clothes being washed whereby uniform action on all the clothes andeven distribution of the clothes in the tub is btained.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is:

1. In a fabric washing machine, the combination of a tub adapted tocontain a body of water, an agitator for moving the fabric within thetub, said agitator comprising a body, the top of which approximates thelevel of the water in the tub, a plurality of spaced blades extendingradially from the body, the portion of said body between each two bladesbeing inwardly curved from blade to blade to form a substantiallycontinuous concave surface the radius of the surface increasing from topto bottom with the sides thereof substantially tangential to the sidesof the blades, and a shaft for oscillating the agitator.

2. An agitator fora fabric washing machine comprising a hollow bodyhaving adisk at the bottom and gradually decreasing in size from thedisk to a hub at the top, a plurality of radially disposed bladescarried by the body and extending from the hub to the'disk the outeredges of the blades gradually tapering outwardly from top to bottom, theouter wall of the body between each two blades being inwardly curvedfrom blade to blade to form a substantially concave surface with thesides thereof tangential to the sides of said blades the radius of thecurve gradually increasing from top to bottom, the lower end of saidouter wall being connected by a curved surface to the disk, said surfacebeingsubstantially tangential to the upper surface of the disk.

3. An agitator for a fabric washing machine comprising a unitarystructure having a hollow body with a disk at the bottom and a hub atthe top, spaced blades formed integral with the body and extending inradial planes from the hub to the disk, said blades decreasing inthickness from the upper end thereof toward the disk, the surfaceportion of the body between each pair of blades being curved upwardly asit rises from the disk and also curved from blade to blade so as to forma substantially concave surface, the last mentioned portion of saidcurved surface being tangential to the vertical sides of the blades andi gradually becoming the disk.

4. An agitator for a fabric washing machine flatter from the top towardcomprising a hollow body having a small hub at the top and a large diskatthe bottom,

three equally spaced radial blades formed integral with the body, thelower ends of said blades projecting beyond the peripheral surface ofthe disk, the portion of the body between each two blades and the diskbeing curved inwardly toward the axis of the body and forming anuninterrupted concave surface which extends substantially throughout thelength of the agitator with the sides of said portions tangentiallyarranged with respect to the sides of the blades.

5. An agitator comprising a base plate and a plurality of triangularshaped concave side walls which merge into each other at their sideedges to form blades which taper outwardly from top to bottom andincrease in thickness from their edges aosaass 3 inwardly, said sidewalls merging into the base plane and merging into the hub at theirupper plate at their lower edges with a smooth even ends and into thebase plate at their lower ends. curve. 8. An agitator comprising a baseplate and a 6. An agitator comprising a base plate and three pluralityof concave side walls, the edges of which triangular shaped concave sidewalls which merge taper gradually inwardly from the bottom to the fromtop to bottom and increasing in thickness edges inwardly, said sidewalls merging into the from their edges inwardly, said side wallsmerging base plate at their lower edges with a smooth even their sideedges to form vertically extending blades NOBLE H. WATI'S.

